Film-tensioning device for moving-picture machines.



G. HUNTOON, W. G. ROLPBS & W. L. WRIGHT. FILM TBNSIONING DEVICE PoRMOVING PICTURE MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 31, 1911.

1,0'74,1 77. Patented Sept. 30, 191,3.

' fwi:

I jmmmmememm Suva/1415676 UNITED sTiiTEs PATENT ornioii.

CHARLES HUNTGON, WILLIAM C. ROLFES, ANI) WALTER L. WRIGHT, 0F LOSANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

FILM-TENSIONING DEVICE FOR MOVING-PICTURE MACHINES.

To all whom 2'15 may concern Be it known that we, CHARLES HUN'rooN',

citizens of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county ofLos Angeles and State ot California, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Film- Tensioniug Devices vfor Moving- PictureMachines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to moving picture machines and particularly tomeans for securing a proper tension of the film as it passes between thegate or door and the aperture plate.

In the photographing or projection of moving pictures, the film uponwhich the pictures are photographed or from which they are projected isintermittently moved over an opening at great speed. @Wing to the quickjerks, there mustbe applied to the film a brake or tensioning device tocause the film to stop instantly and accurately over the aperture.

In moving picture machinery as at present constructed, the apertureplate is formed with a track or way .across which the film moves, andthe gate is formed with vertically extending, parallel springs disposedone oneach Vside of the aperture in the gate which, when the gate isclosed bear against that ,side of the'film which is coated with emulsionand press the film against the face of the apertureplate. In movingpicture cameras the same instrumentalities are used to secure a properrictional contact on the film; as it passes across the plate, only theparts are reversed, the springs being on the aperture plate and forcingthe iilm into frictional contact withthe gate. The means above referredto for obtaining this preferable irictional contact or tension with theAfilm are open to a number of objections- The direct contact of thesprings with the film'subjects the film to great wear and friction, andthe. strain to which the film is subjected caused by the pressure ofthese fixed springs and the intermittent shifting of the film tends totear the film or otherwise damage it.

Again, with the 4,tension springs now. in use,V

the emulsion collects on the faces of the springs necessitating shutdowns until the emulsion so scraped off has been removed from thesprings. This scraping up ine Specification of,Letters Patent.

Application filed October 3l, 1911.

Patented sept. so', 191s.

Serial No.' 657,882.

emulsion by the springs checks the sprocket holes on the films andconsequently weakens the lni. Agaim if a spliced lor patched film isused with` the present type of tension springs, the patch or splice willlift -the springs their entire length when the patch reaches a pointwhere the springs extend equally on both sides of the patch, and whenthe patch is at any point under the springs, the tension variesaccording to the thickness of the splice or patch so that there willbe ajump every time that a patch or splice passes the aperture. A

The main object of our invention is -to obviate these ldifiiculties bproviding tension devices in which film triction is greatly reduced andat the same time the film is held firmly along the greater part of thelength of the gate or aperture plate, and by providing a plurality ofindependent spring actuated, film engaging members to give an evenitension at all times, regardless of the thickness of the stock or thecondition of the same.

Another object is to provide a supporting plate for the film havingremovable, replaceable tracks which when worn out may 'be easily removedand replaced without necessitating the throwing away of the supportingplate,

A further object is to provide film engaging members which bearresiliently against that face of the hlm which is covered with emulsion,and which beingprovided with antifriction rollers do not act to scrapeoflr1 this-emulsion or to so frictionally engage the film as to cause itto tear under the intermittent jerks to which it is subjected.l

Another object is to so form the tensioning devices that they may bereadily applied to various forms of gate and aperture plate to suitvarious'types of machine.

@ther objects will appear in the course of l the following description.

A form of our invention is illustratedin the accompanying drawingswherein:

Figure l is a vertical section of the gate or door of a moving picturemachine and the coacting apertured plate., this view also showing a feedmechanism for the iilm. Fig. :2 is an inside fragmentary face view ot'.the gate or door. Fig. 3 is a side elevation ot' the roller supportingframe detached troni the gate. Fig. l is a perspective View of a portionof said frame with two o-f the rollers in position thereon. Fig. 5 isafragmentary face view of a portion of the frame, the roller and supporttherefor being in section. Fig. 6 is an inside face view of the apertureplate shown in section in Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a transverse section on line7 7 of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a face view of the aperture plate of a motionpicture camera. Fig.'9 is a vertical sec tion through the aperture`plate and gate of a motion picture camera.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawingsby lthe same reference characters'.

In .the practical operation of our invention any usual or suitable gateand aperture plate may be used. The gate for illustrative purpose-s isshown as like that form used on a Path moving picture machine.

The gate proper is designated 2 and carries at its upper end the tensionroller 3 between which and the sprocket wheel 4 the film 5 passes. Thegate is of course hinged or otherwise supported iii any suitable mannerso that it may be swung back out of register with the aperture plate 6.Opposite to the gate2 when in its closed position is the aperture plate6 having therein the aperture or window 7. The film is fed downward overthe aperture plate and past the window and then passed over'any suitablefeed mechanism such as the sprocket wheel 4a. The film is pressed intocontact with the aperture plate bymeans of tension devices carried onthe gate. In our invention these tension devices consist of a pluralityof independent spring actuated film engaging members disposed on 'eachside of the aperture or window in the gate, and preferably these membersconsist of a plurality of spring actuated antifriction rollers supportedin longitudinal series' on each side ofthe gate vapertur'e.- In detail,these rollers are carried. on a rectangular frame formed of parallel`side .bars 8 connected at their op posite ends by spacing bolts 9. Thisframe is mounted upon the inner face of the gate in any suitable manner,the side bars extending longitudinally of the gate and being attached:to the inner face of the gate by any suitable fastening devices. Eachside bar is formed on its inner face with a succession of semicircularrecesses 8a and the side bars are attached to the gate by means of theangle clips 8b.

Pivotally mounted upon Athe outer side face of each side bar are aplurality of downwardly and inwardly extending arms 10. -Through theouter end of eacharm as illustrated in Fig. 5 passes a gudgeon 11 uponwhich rotates an antifriction roller 4plate by a spring 13.

12. This roller has either the same width as the side bar upon which itis mounted, or is slightly wider than the side bar. As shown in Fig.ll,'thc arms 10 incline downward or in the direction of travel of thefilm, and each arm is resiliently urged upward and toward, the opposedapertured As illustrated, thev spring is attached at one end to thescrew 14 which holds the gudgeon in place, then passes up and around apivot engaging screw 15, then passes down to and engages with the pivotscrew of the arm below. `We do not, of course, wish tobe limited to thisdetailed construction.. It is to be noted that the diameter' of eachroller is less'than the diameter of the semicircular recess in which theroller is received, so .that the roller has a certain amount of play.This is plainly apparent in Fig. 3. Each of the antifriction rollers12'being independently spring actuated, will be forced against the film,and in t-urn will force the film against the face of the aperture platebut will permit the film to readily shift without friction. Furthermore,as it is these rollers which bear againstl that face of the film whichis covered with emulsion, the emulsion will not be scraped ofl'l norcause the sprocket holes in the film to become checked.

Again, as a splice or patch passes over the aperture plate, theindependently movable rollers will raise and lower independently topermit the passage of the patch, but the tension` devices as a wholewill not so raise or lower as do the usual pair of longitudinallyextending springs.

To afford a bearing against-which the rollers 12 may force the film andto receive the wear of the moving lm, we have provided the constructionillustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. The aperture plate 6 is of any suitablecharacter or shape, save that it is provided on its face with paralleltrack members 16 which project slightly beyond the face of the plate andreceive the wear of the moving film. 'Preferably these track members areset .into longitudinally extending grooves cut in the face ,of theapertured plate, and preferably veach groove is T- Ashaped and eachtrack member has lateral ture plate and the gate and also to provide' afinger hold whereby the track members may be removed when worn. It willbe noticed from Fig. 6 that the groove in which the track member isreceived does not extend down the whole length of the aperture plate,but that it stops short of the lower end of the plate, thus providing anabutment 16" against which the lower end of the track member 16 restswhen in position, this abutment preventing the downward movement of thetrack member under the action of the film.

The principle of onLinvention is equally applicable to moving picturecameras as it is to projectors, only in that case the tension devicesare disposed upon the aperture plate and act to press the film againstthe gate instead of the tension devices being on the gate and acting topress the film against the aperture plate. construction is illustrated.In these figures, 1S designa es the aperture plate provided withthe'usual Window 18a. This aperture plate "is slotted on each side ofthe WindoviT 18 as at 19. Mounted upon the rear face of the apertureplate are the parallel bars 20, and pivoted to these bars are the arms2l carrying at their ends the antifriction rollers 22 which projectslightly through the aperture plate as shown in Fig. 9. The gate 23 maybe of any suitable construction and is formed on its inside face with`the longitudinally extending track members 24 which are preferably.constructed in precisely the same manner as the track members 16previously described. The arms carry-` ing the rollers 22 are, ofcourse, spring actuated. These rollers therefore resiliently bearagainst the film 5and act to force the film against the inner face ofthegate and particularly against the track members. It will of course benoted that in ,the camera the film is so placed that the emulsion coatedside of the film is toward the aperture plate and hence the necessity ofplacing the rollers upon the aperture plate rather thanvupon the ate.

W rile We have described the detailed construction of our invention, Wedo not Wish tobe limited thereto as it is obvious that many changesmight be made'in the construction without departing from the spirit ofthe invention. Neither do We Wish to be limited to antifriction rollersas other antifriction members might be used to accomplish more or lessperfectly the same end It Will be seen that in both the projector andthe camera We have provided oppositely disposed plates between which thelm passes, each of these plates being formed with a Window, and that oneof these plates is provided with a pair of parallel sets or series oftensioning devices "resiliently 'urged toward the opposite plate, andengaging the film to hold it in contact with the opposed plate, and thatthe opposed plate in turn is preferably provided `with longitudinallyextend ing bearing members disposed on each sideof the aperture andagainst which the film is forced by the tension members.

lVhat we claim is:

l. In a moving picture machine, an aperture plate, independentlyactuated lm en- In Figs. 8 and 9 this ga`ging members disposed in serieson each side of the aperture of said*l plate, each of: said membersbeing independently movableV from said tracks and each independently-`and resiliently urged toward said tracks. l

3. The combination .with oppositely disposed, parallel apertured membersspaced from each other for the passage of a pho? tographic film, of aplurality. of spring actuated lm engagingrollers mounted upon4 one ofsaid members on each side of the aperture thereof, each of said rollersbeing independently movable toward Ior from the opposite member and eachof said rollers being independently and resiliently'. urgedtoward theother member.

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4. In a moving picture machine, arallel aperturedy members spaced fromeac 'Mother for 4the passage' of a film, a pluralit offilm engagingmembers mounted on eac side of the aperture of one of saidapertured'members, each of said film engaging members.'

being independently lmovable toward. and

from the opposed apertured member and vin dependently and resilientlyurged toward said member, and including, eachv an anti'- friction rollermounted thereon.

l5. In a. moving picture machine, parallel,

,oppositely disposed apertured members spaced from each other for thepassage of a film, a plurality of independent film engagmg memberscarried on one of said apertured membersand dlsposed on each side j Aofthe aperture thereof, each of sai-d Vfilm engaging members comprising anarmpivotally mounted upon the apertured member,

an antifriction roller carried by the free end of said arm, and a springacting to force the arm outward.

6. In a moving picture machine, parallel, apertured members spaced fromeach other for the passage of a film, oppositel disyposed, parallel barsmounted upon t einner face of one of said -apertured members von eachside Aof the aperture thereof, Y'the faces of said bars being formedwith a succession of recesses, arms pivo'ted to the bars and extendingoutward andin the direction of travel of the film, and antifrictionrollers rotatably mounted on the extremities of the arms, and partiallyhoused Within sai-d re-l cesses, and springs resiliently urging the armsoutward.

y 7. In a moving picture machine, an aperture plate, a supporting memberarranged parallel to the aperture plate and spaced therefrom for thepassage of a film between the supporting member and the plate, and apluralitv of independently actuated parallel film engaging membersmounted upon said supporting member and disposed on each side of theaperture of the plate, each member being independently movable vtowardor from said plate and each independently and resiliently urged towardsaid plate.

8. In a moving picture machine, parallel y apertured members spaced fromeach other for the passage of' a film, one of' said aper' tured membersbeing formed with longitudinally extending grooves on each side of theaperture, and longitudinally extending tracks fitting said grooves andslida-ble therein, the other of'said members carrying on each side aplurality of independently yielding, outwardly movable, film engagingdevices, each independently urged toward said tracks and engaging withthe film thereon.

In testimony whereof We `affix our signatures in presence of tWoWitnesses.

CHARLES HUNTooN. [L 5.] WILLIAM c. RoLFEs. [1.. 5.] WALTER L. WRIGHT. [as] Witnesses:

' CLARENCE yW. BYRER,

F. H. SHEPARD.

